Jakarta (ANTARA) -Indonesia’s National Nutrition Agency (BGN) will prioritize high-stunting regions—including remote border areas and parts of Java—as it rolls out the government’s flagship Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program, agency head Sudaryono announced Friday.
The agency is currently aligning its targeting with Health Ministry data to deploy immediate nutritional interventions to the most vulnerable communities, focusing on children, toddlers, and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers.
“We already know which provinces, districts, sub-districts, and villages are involved,” Sudaryono told reporters during a press conference in Jakarta.
While remote, frontier, and outer regions (known locally as 3T areas) remain central to the effort, Sudaryono stressed that high stunting rates are not confined to isolated territories like Papua and East Nusa Tenggara.
“It is not only in Papua, but also in East Nusa Tenggara and several other regions. We have also found a number of districts in Java where the stunting rate is quite high,” Sudaryono said.
Stunting—a condition resulting from chronic malnutrition that impairs physical and cognitive development in children—remains a major public health challenge in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Beyond delivering immediate food aid, the agency stated that the program’s long-term objective is to foster a cultural shift toward balanced nutrition across the archipelago.
Translator: Anita, Kenzu
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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